rick santorum. rick santorum. a full-spectrum conservative, rick santorum is rock solid on values issues, a favorite in the tea party for fighting corruption and taxpayer abuse, more foreign policy credentials than any candidate, and the jobs plan will make an economic super power again. rick santorum, a trusted conservative who gives us the best chance to take back america. >> great ad. so, how big a threat is santorum to romney and how big of a threat would he be to barack obama come november? we have the experts. mark halperin, a senior political analyst for msnbc, and editor for "time" and john heilemann, also an analyst. let me start with a question for both of you. is the white house believing now they might have to face santorum? >> they still think there's a better chance than not they face romney, but they see weakness in romney. they are fully prepared to face santorum. i heard earlier about shifting their focus to santorum. they are well prepared. they are sitting on a bunch of stuff about santorum i'm

>> santorum. absolutely. santorum's challenge is he able to respond to the questions without lit getting a the questions. the curse of santorum and newt, a lot of these debates, they think that they are so smart that they can sort of talk their way out of every question instead of just giving a ten-second response and pivoting back to a safer message. no. they want to prove i'm gonna tell you exactly what i did or didn't say and i'm gonna be proven right here. that is not politically helpful. >> santorum's case, talk about what he did in the senate, i'm always like don't say cloture. people don't know what that means. by the way, is this another one of these debates the front runner, i guess is still romney. >> still front runner, i think. >> but it is another one of those debates the focus, a pile on santorum? ron paul made that clear and according to anthony term, our embed with the campaign, says he wants to pile on the >> i think romney has benefitted from that repeatedly. go all the way back, bachmann, p

but nothing new for santorum. since the beginning of his career he has been addicted to talking about sex, religion or anything that candy individual the country but the good news we have a president that has been listening to the baloney for years and has been able to stay focused on creating jobs. 23 straight months of private sector job growth. drill it in their head, that what is we should talk about. the fact of the matter is, can you imagine a president santorum? can you imagine what he would do with extremist in congress? the reality is we have a president who linked to the most extreme things, calling his wife his baby ma marks we could go on and on, barack obama has not been distracted and that is a powerful thing about this amazing person who is running our country. the fact of the matter is he's running against people who have run so far to the extreme that they ruined the republican party and those moderates are complisit. that is their problem. the reality is america will support a president who is go

rick santorum the winner in colorado, a clean sweep for rick santorum on this important day. he wins in missouri. he wins in minnesota and now, you heard it first on cnn he wins in colorado. a huge, huge disappointment for mitt romney. john king is here. they were really expecting that mitt romney would win in colorado. and colorado springs, el paso county, right over there that probably made a huge difference. this was as you have been saying all night, this was a conservative area. evangelical area. and it goes overwhelming for rick santorum. >> and the chairman said that he had a 1,300 vote in el paso county. this is the evangelical vote in colorado. the darker the area the higher the percentage of evangelicals. you see a higher percentage down here. but this is a much smaller county. this is the hot bed in terms of the population centers in the state and senator santorum carrying it tonight. we don't have those officially on the map yesterday. but he also said up here in weld county, santorum carried this county as well. larimer county had disappeared. senator santorum wi

rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several d

he called santorum an economic light weight. let's go to santorum headquarters. jim acosta standing by over there. over the past couple, three days there's been what some are calling a little political mischief going on. santorum supporters actually going out and trying to recruit democrats to vote for him. what's going on? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. i just caught up with the senior strategist for the santorum campaign, john braybender a few moments ago. he was saying they were basically microtargeting the way he put iteration putting reagan in this state. robo calls encouraging democrats to cross over in this primary and cast their ballots for rick santorum. i had a chance to catch up with the former pennsylvania senator earlier today. he was cruising some diners for some votes but acknowledged he was cooking up some mischief. he basically told me, wolf, he's trying to appeal to conservative democrats that he'd like to have in his camp come this fall. here's what he had to say. >> even though the romney campaign says it was a dirty trick, what's your respo

back in 2006, santorum senate campaign website said "santorum is equally insuring every pennsylvanian has access to higher education." he's for it unless president obama is also for it. santorum's double standard, it doesn't stop there. he says president obama wants to indoctrinate our youth by sending them to college. another person who has been accused of indoctrinating youth is a guy named ron luce, president of teen mania ministries. in 2005, rick santorum endorsed this guy writing ron luce takes the first important step, educating and equipping parents like me. he should know he is a home schooler. many past attendees of the ministries set up a website describing the physical and emotional abuses they experience while staying at a ron luce camp. among the accusations are sleep deprivation, food deprivation, verbal abuse. refusal of medical treatment, rolling in vomit, you got to like that one, crawling through the mud. got to toughen the kids up. >> here is how ron luce describes his ministry. >> you could say fear factor meets navy seal training. fear factor they don't know how

but a couple things, one is santorum, some of the other front-runners might turn to look at santorum now. dad and santorum have a very good relationship. as you know, santorum served under my dad when my dad was speaker and he was, he often talked about how he helped reform welfare and that was clearly unmy dad's role as speaker. that was when welfare was reform as well as the budget balance for four years. it really says this race is wide open. that we don't know what will happen. what we do know is my father is the only candidate, including president barack obama, that has balanced the budget for four years in a row nationally and reform welfare, cut spending and cut taxes. and he is the leader that we need today. >> well, jackie, as always, a great place to talk to you and i'm sure we'll talk again very soon. >> thank you for having me on. >> has the race changed tonight or is this another swing of the pendulum? joining me now, ben smith. ben, welcome. from a media point of view, great stuff. it keeps the story going. it is exciting. the lead keeps changing. is it as good for the

rick santorum aa 30-point winner. and minnesota, caucuses, rick santorum a big winner. ron paul coming in second and mitt romney coming in third and newt gingrich in fourth. final thoughts from our panel. steve, a.b., and chris charles. hard to believe, almost 2:00 a.m. >> i guess i am struck by the fact that these are not just wipes for rick santorum, but big wins. 18 points in minnesota, 30 points in missouri, 6 points in colorado. those qualify in my view as big wins. newt gingrich's totals are interesting. he wasn't on the ballot in missouri. fourth in minnesota and avoided a fourth-place finish in colorado by only 400 votes, a horrible night for newt gingrich. i don't know how he is going to pick up the phone tomorrow and say, you need to invest in my canned dateidacy at this point. >> i think steve's point about how -- >> how much earlier? it was a long night. [laughter] [overlapping dialogue] >> but i think that his point is that rick santorum needs to wake up tomorrow knowing he will be attacked, you know, around the clock by the romney campaign as the washingto

. >> rick santorum launched sharp criticism -- >> santorum's taking his fight to higher education. >> the snob comment. >> let's talk about this snobbery. >> what a snob. >> this is just nuts. it's just bad politics. >> i certainly don't think the president's a snob for saying that. i think that's probably over the line. >> attacking jfk. >> santorum triggered a debate by questioning the separation of church and state. >> the separation of church and state. >> how extreme can you get? >> what kind of country can we live in that says only people of nonfaith can come in the public square. >> the constitution is very clear in the separation of church and state. >> you bet that makes you throw up. >> made him want to throw up. >> the separation of church and state makes him want to throw up? >> he has been talking more than anyone about social issues. >> it's time for him to really focus on the economy. >> we saw mitt romney try to capitalize on that earlier today. >> this has got to be a campaign about the economy. >> it is do or die time for the republican presidential candidates in mic

it goes up in areas where santorum is winning. it's been reported around colorado where santorum is piling up some votes. the turnout is higher than it was four years ago. that's interesting. >> he's spent nine days in the state. that matters to people. look, mitt romney ignored people and i think people, yeah, we like your money, you've got all these big-name people. but it's like me introducing gloria to ari. a yeah, i made the introduction. but someone needs to make the sell. hey, this is why i want you to support mitt romney that's clearly a problem for mitt romney. >> the narrative coming out of the weekend, mitt romney is starting to make it up in the areas where he was weak, all the tea party, every single category. now it's back again to those groups that you were struggling with before, you're now struggling with again. >> here's the thing about this race. that's no -- there's no bounce out of any state. there is a just bouncing around. >> there's a bounce out of florida. >> well, you know, okay i'll give you a little bou

i leave you alone for one minute. >> santorum surges. >> santorum is really surging. >> rick santorum may no longer be a long shot. >> he's in the statistical tie with mitt romney, three new national polls out today. >> i expect you to go a little crazy. >> a lot of stars have risen and fallen. rick santorum's just the most recent. >> rick santorum, unlike newt gingrich, also has a very consistent history with the cultural conservatives. >> i believe that any doctor who performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so. i would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. and there are people who were gay and aren't anymore. >> a new poll of michigan gop primary voters also has the former senator from pennsylvania leading in the state where romney grew up and where his father was governor. >> if rick santorum beats mitt romney in michigan, we're looking at a wholly different race. >> now he's going to get the full force of the mitt romney attacks. >> desperate people do desperate things. >> the romney campaign better be careful. if you go negat

rick santorum has one. in iowa the campaign proper for which he needs campaign donors, it spent $22,000 in iowa on ads. $22,000. how much did his billionaire spend on him? $537,000. in iowa. that is how much the rick santorum pac spent. i think we are capable of putting this on a graph, can we try? here we go. this is rick santorum's total campaign spending on ads in iowa compared to what the pac spent, the pac supported by his billionaire. i believe this is to scale, if it is not to scale, i quit this job. i hope you will enjoy the new two hour long "the ed show" or whatever they put on. i think that is to scale. but this is what billionaires can do for you now. you need one, one person you do not need to attract anybody else's money. that is good for rick santorum, because he cannot seem to attract anybody else's money. after his big wins last night, rick santorum went on the cable news morning shows to brag about how thanks to his big night last night, he had raised --. >> one million dollars. >> no, act

rick santorum. nationally and particularly with the swing and independent voters who decide these elections of the general elections these issues are not really where the focus is. the focus is on economic issues and jobs. rick santorum. can't really deviate too far from where he's strongest and where his strongest contrast with mitt romney are nor can he ignore the economic issues where most voters republican primary voters place those at their top issues will gravitate towards mitt romney. it's a tough row to hoe for rick santorum. >> if romney really handed santorum something recommend nicing something that took place before he was born. but now we have santorum with robo calls seeking votes by democrats, what does it mean on wednesday? isn't that basically an anville to hit him over the head from romney or guinn or ron paul who said you went into a republican party and asked for democratic votes? >> it's to an extent acknowledging the self sabotaging aspect, where you see mischief, it's in the i

a reporter asked santorum at the was making a comparison between hitler and president obama, and santorum said this. >> of course not. the world war ii metaphor is one i've used 100 times in my career. if he wasn't comparing president obama to hitler he should explain who in the hell he was talking about. senator, could we have a name tonight? can you get one of your press people to put out a release and tell us exactly who you were talking about? rick santorum rarely takes responsibility for extreme rhetoric. last month at a town hall meeting an audience member called president obama a muslim. santorum had nothing say in response. >> he is an avowed muslim. and my question is why isn't something being done to get him out of our government, he has no legal right to be calling himself president. >> well, i'm doing my best to get him out of the government. >> just like today, santorum avoided any responsibility. >> i don't think it's my responsibility, why don't you go out and correct it it's not my responsibility as a candidate to correct everybody who makes a statement that i disagree wit

that he made it safe for rick santorum to run for president. this is how santorum repays him. just so awful. >> what would a santorum presidency look like? would this be the closest thing you states would come to a theocracy or would it be one? >> i think the would be close. the thing about santorum he is slightly cagey, when he gets challenged, i'm not saying i would want to impose my values on others. of course he does. he crusades against contraception and tries to say well i never said that i would really outlaw it and i voted for title x, a few days later says i hate title x i want to outlaw it. he's as much a flip-flopper as mitt romney is. so we don't know what he would do but plenty of reason to fear it. >> fear is the perfect word. it seems to me rick santorum is doing everything he can to get conservatives to not only support him but to fear the president. the more they fear the president, the more he can demonnize him the better chance he will have in the long run politically. but who does it really play to? who is he really talking to? >> you know, i think -- the i

plus, social issues and the santorum surge. they've helped propel him to the top of the republican field, but could they hurt the party in the fall campaign? and mitt romney shakes up the tax reform debate. could his new plan be a game changer in the primary fight and beyond? welcome to the journal, editorial report. i'm paul gigot. with polls tightening ahead of the contest in michigan and arizona frontrunners, mitt romney and rick santorum squared off in the primary's 20th presidential debate. trading jabs on everything from romney care to earmarks. >> so the idea that somehow earmarks during the time that i was in congress were this thing that drove up spending in washington d.c., if you actually look at it as i've said before as a percentage gdp. the debt went down. what happened, there was abuse. >> while i was fighting to save the olympics, you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere. >> joining the panel this week, the wall street journal columnist and editor, dan henninger, and jason riley assistant editorial page e

rick santorum aa 30-point winner. and minnesota, caucuses, rick santorum a big winner. ron paul coming in second and mitt romney coming in third and newt gingrich in fourth. final thoughts from our panel. steve, a.b., and chris charles. hard to believe, almost 2:00 a.m. >> i guess i am struck by the fact that these are not just wipes for rick santorum, but big wins. 18 points in minnesota, 30 points in missouri, 6 points in colorado. those qualify in my view as big wins. newt gingrich's totals are interesting. he wasn't on the ballot in missouri. fourth in minnesota and avoided a fourth-place finish in colorado by only 400 votes, a horrible night for newt gingrich. i don't know how he is going to pick up the phone tomorrow and say, you need to invest in my canned dateidacy at this point. >> i think steve's point about how -- >> how much earlier? it was a long night. [laughter] [overlapping dialogue] >> but i think that his point is that rick santorum needs to wake up tomorrow knowing he will be attacked, you know, around the clock by the romney campaign as the washingto

we need santorum. we love this guy. >> but if newt does fade hard here, i think you'll see a one on one-type campaign where there will be pressure to do more debates because you'll have, like you said, a mano-e-mano-style campaign. whoever is losing is going to be pushing for february debates. if santorum makes a move, you'll see romney call for more debates and vice versa. >> let's take a look at the president. he's still in this race. he's willing to make his fight. here he is in washington today fighting for the 99%. he's still thinking romney is the opponent. mr. 1%. >> right. >> he'd like to put that on his bowling shirt, right, if he ever went -- >> bowling shirt? >> ever went to a bowling alley. excuse me, mitt romney. let's listen. i don't think so. >> we have a choice right now. we can either settle for a country where a few people do really well and everybody else is struggling, or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot. and everybody does their fair share. and everybody p

, but santorum did not mention romney and they both went after obama, and rick santorum gave more of a vision. >> well, rick santorum has to wonder where he would have been if he had not attacked john f. kennedy. last gallup poll, 85% job approval and ronald reagan 74% job approval and the next one down is bill clinton, and he could not have taken on a more impossible opponent than president kennedy, and he paid for it in michigan. >> in is a man who went around the state in a car talking about how much he loved michigan, and tonight i didn't feel the love at all. he had an opportunity to talk about growing up in michigan and what it means to come home to win his state, and he couldn't do it. he gave the opening speech to the real estate convention at fargo. that is what he did, but here is what i really like. i like the fact that he is going to cut taxes 20%, when he pays 15%. the death tax, you are right, chris. here is the bottom line, he won and he won by just enough, and that is going the give him an opportunity to go back to wall street and say, i'm still your guy. >> and two n

santorum, 45%. in a presidential election, that's an obama landslide against santorum. >> good news for the republicans, john. look, if romney now is running even with obama after they've been butchering each other through debates, campaigns, all that, and he's even, there ought to be reagan at one time was 30 points behind carter. they have a fighting chance still to win this. >> of course they have a fighting chance but you can't argue the primaries are strengthening mitt romney. they've exposed all kinds of weaknesses. but they're not going to go away, pat. he didn't form a collective second skin over everything. he's very vulnerable. >> okay. does -- what happened this week going to have any effect on obama's bid to be reelected president? obama's new on contraception. can you -- let's listen to this. >> under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care, that includes contraceptive services. no matter where they work. so that core principle remains. but, if a woman's employer

santorum opposed it, too. with 40% of the vote in michigan right now, mitt romney is leading rick santorum in michigan but the race is still too close to call. right now at 41% in, difference of less than 12,000 votes between the two candidates. important part here, too close to call in michigan. >>> dayne williams is the mayor, thank you for being with us, we're happy to have you here. >> hey, you're welcome, a lot of interesting happenings in michigan. >> how did we get from mitt romney winning by 9 in 2008 to being too close to call? >> fhe flip-flopped and made comments that we're scratching our heads about and when you do that the voters take notice. so this should have been a very different day and night for governor romney and instead it's proving that this is also about states not just candidates and michigan is looking better for the president than it was a couple days ago. >> the romney campaign tonight in what they have already told us and what they have told other networks, what they are telling re

santorum has -- romney and santorum have prickly sides. which one shows that side on camera? >> i suspect it will not be mitt romney. when he had to be cool, he has been cool. when he had to be aggressive, he's done that. if he's aggressive, it could be santorum gets more prickly. >> susan, is it one of thee that could step in if they step in? jeb, paul ryan, mitch daniels or someone else? >> it has to be somebody -- if that's going to happen, somebody with real stature and standing in the party, it's not a big group. >> who can that be? >> that's the thing. the list gets short quickly. >> and time as well. >> shameless plugs. >> great piece by my colleague josh hirsch steen about the voters rights. could factor into the election, could be a landmark supreme court decision going forward. >> dan? >> "the new york times," mark leibowicz, profile of david plouffe in the paper. >> remember that phone call. >> mr. plouffe didn't do an interview. >> shocking. >> that was good. big becoffee in michigan, walked into bigby coffee, in grand rapids and utica, let me stand there and do i

rick santorum. anyone but mitt. is santorum the flavor of the month or a threat to mitt romney? three polls out in the last two days suggest santorum is for real. this time mitt has reason to be worried. for the first time now, president obama's campaign team has to consider the possibility that santorum could be the gop nominee facing him. would a race against a candidate who questions women, not just at the war front but also in the workplace, be an easy target for team obama? plus andrew sullivan writes that the birth control fight could end up as a big winner for president obama. he says the further the right wing, the farther is identified on birth control, the better it is for the president. andrew sullivan joins us tonight. >>> when house republicans caved on allowing an extension of the payroll tax cut, it was an admission this was a loser issue for the rs. finally why rick santorum is real and romney ain't. we begin with how serious a threat is rick santorum is to mitt romney. steve smith w

rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several d

rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several d

romney has got to the take santorum out in this debate. santorum has got to defend himself. newt can do what he does best which is wait for the right moment, swoop in with his great point that leaves everybody on the stage nodding like bobbleheads and then go onto the next point. >> and spread poison everywhere. >> judson, karen, ken, thank you very much for joining us. >>> next, one of the men who testified in front of congress on a woman's right to choose. stay with us. >> and the father of lies has his sights on what you would think the father of lies, satan, would have his sights on, a good, decent, powerful, influential country. the united states of america. [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal tho

rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several d

for rick santorum. i want to congratulate senator santorum. i expect to become our nominee with your help. >> so i want to congratulate all of my fellow republicans. particularly senator santorum, and i look forward to the contest to come. we're going to take our message of liberty and prosperity to every corner of the country. and when this primary season is over, we're going to stand united as a party behind our nominee to defeat barack obama and restore the values that have made america the greatest nation in the history of the earth. now, three years ago, you may remember barack obama came to colorado to accept his party's nomination for the pres daenls, and he rented out a huge stadium. he got some of those styrofoam greek columns and had two tv screens that set the mood, and on that big stage, he made even bigger promises. he said that the democrats had a different measure of what constitutes progress. and then he went on to define it. under his definition, progress would be measured by how many p

if the election were there today, rick santorum could pull out. in two weeks' time, the mitt romney resources could roll in and take this thing away from rick santorum, but, again, it depends on a lot of factors here, including how much of a factor is newt gingrich? is he going to be getting 16%, 17%? or will it be 8%, 9%? go ahead. tavis: i was going to ask, how much of this republican infighting, what does it say about mitt romney and his chances to win the nomination and, for that matter, to beat barack obama? and number two, what does it say about the republican party? >> it says that he is somebody who draws the support that he does because he is seen as strong on the economy and strong in terms of being a candidate to take on president obama in the fall, so i think that he is having this drawn-out primary does undermine the second point, that -- if he is having trouble fending off some folks who had their heyday in the republican party a few years ago, then that is not a good indicator of his strength to become president of the united states

santorum's up. santorum is doing mail. there's a lot of campaign that's going to be unfurled onto the ohio gop family over the course of the next five or six days. no telling what this thing is going to look like next tuesday night. >> if you're santorum, how disappointed would you really be? let me bring in mike allen. yes, mitt romney won, but to only scrape through in your own home state, when you outspend your main opponent five-to-one. rick santorum had a bit of a rough week, bad debate, and made what most people consider to be gaffes. you've got to be feeling reasonably confident that despite all that you're still really close to beating him. >> you're absolutely right. rick santorum essentially declared victory tonight. he even jumped out and spoke ahead of mitt romney. we're told from the romney folks that they weren't watching tv. he was with family and friends. they were kibbutzing. rick santorum called to concede even before it had been announced, before cnn, other networks had called it, and he jumped out and s

. >> santorum. >> i would say rick santorum does. i'm sorry to create drama. >> i don't know if you saw gingrich's speech but he got out there with a message. he is talking about trees and stuff that i saw a lot of tweets about, too, people trying to figure out what he was talking about it. i think he is getting off of the rails. getting back to ohio, that's my biggest obsession on super tuesday, so that is your big battles ground state for november. i think something we have learned here in michigan in this race is it's not a battleground any more. what obama is doing in the numbers and with this bail-out story, i do not think michigan is a battleground state any more in november. >> that's another great point. so then, if craig is right and you seem to think that -- you indicated that he was, michael, then, god, what a favor gingrich to do to santorum if he dropped out. romney has to be worried senseless he will drop out and give santorum that huge edge. >> that's true. we have to remember all of the primaries next tuesday and non-

now we have santorum, romney. sounds like romney, gingrich of a couple of weeks ago. >> the first one, i have this visual image of romney in a tank and firing gingrich and in half a day, it has just turned and he is going to put withry fire power on santorum. in '92, pat buchanan pounding on george bush didn't make a difference. it did because it went on for months and the president went into the general election wounded. we're getting close to that point where the republican party is going to have to get behind a candidate. >> a couple of seconds. the tory right? >> i don't think so as governor romney said. this prepares us for the fall. if we think this is difficult fire, just wait until the fail when there's a billion dollars of barack obama tryinging to rain down on you. one of the strengths of mitt romney is he's been able to with stand that pressure and that bombardment. that's his strength. >> is this good for the party? >> i think it depends who the nominee is. if governor romney is the nominee, he probabl

rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several d

or rick santorum among those vote sners. >> it's santorum all day long. i think, you're hearing michiganders say, this guy relates to me much he's come up the way i've come up. that kind of politics is priceless in race like this where up until now the presumed front-runner has not been able to make that connection with the voters. when you get someone, this is the distinguishing mark in my estimation, between santorum and everyone else who has gone before him, is the anti-romney, is that he is the best and the most legitimate at being anti-romney. he is, he is clearly struck that nerve, that chord, that is not only cutting in with the conservative base, but has the ability to pull those soft reagan democrats back towards looking at him, looking at his economic message. i think john is absolutely right. when you hear him on the stump, it is 95% populist economics. it is the social question that he gets off-camera or right after one of those stem winders that becomes the headline. he now needs to make his speech, what he just said about the economy, the he

tonight's question, santorum surge, is rick santorum's surge the turning point for conservative voters? text a for yes, b to no, to 622639. go to our blog, we have the results later in the show. >>> i'm joined by howard fineman, nbc political analyst and editor and director of the huffington post media group. great to have you with us, howard. >> hey, ed. >> rick santorum says mitt romney is desperate. we're going to see how desperate he is in the next couple weeks. what do you think romney will do in michigan now that the numbers are out and that is a healthy lead for santorum, what is the game plan for romney to turn it around? >> first, let me tell you about the santorum game plan, they're going up with a tv ad in michigan, and they haven't had a lot of money for tv advertising such as a big state in michigan. it will be interesting to see how they play it. i think it will be a gentle comparative ad, not a hard-hitting anti-romney ad, but comparative ad on this being a two-person race. real significant thing that happened over the weekend, ed, newt gingrich didn't do particularly we